Nancy Ellis Anderson

NANCY ELLIS ANDERSON

I attended SDSU after high school and earned a B.S. in Psychology and two Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Counseling.  I married Paul (UCLA) in 1970.  I worked at SDSU in Testing for 7 years and as a high school and middle school counselor for over 22 years.  I retired in 2009 and am enjoying life, still living in La Jolla. Paul and I have 3 children: Christina, Karen, and Mark, who all graduated from La Jolla High School. We have 4 great grandchildren: Bjorn, Sophia, Annika, and Carmen.  We enjoy travel and have traveled to Europe numerous times (especially France), South America, and Israel.  On our last trip this past summer we took our 2 oldest grandchildren to London, Paris, Copenhagen, and Sweden (to visit Paul’s relatives.  I enjoy Jazzercise, book clubs, Mah Jongg, swimming, walking, and spending time with our family, grandchildren, and friends. I feel especially blessed to live in beautiful La Jolla, and, so far, enjoy good health. I still keep in touch with friends from La Jolla High. 

Robert Solymossy

Robert Solymossy

"After graduation, went to Mammoth Mountain and worked as lumberjack then ski patrol for a year, spent a year at Mesa College but realized a future desk job was not in the stars for me; it was at this point that my long aviation career began.

After earning my pilot licenses/ratings, I worked as a flight instructor and also flew charter flights (including Dionne Warwick) from Lindbergh Field, joined PSA as flight instructor (remember PSA? :-)), and wrote a script for Gilligan’s Island. In 1974, I moved to the British Virgin Islands, where I flew for Air BVI (and later worked in management) and enjoyed 10 years as a bachelor in paradise. In 1984, I met my wife Diana and married at last. For me, it was well worth the wait.

We returned to the States in 1985 and settled in northern Virginia area. I worked in various executive capacities with All Nippon Airways for 14 years, including helping to launch the airline’s first B747 non-stop flights (up to 15 hrs) between Washington and Tokyo. 

Retired in 2000, now spend most of my time planning our next adventures around the world. Our interests, besides seeing the world, span skiing, sailing (bareboat), flying and scuba diving, which we try to do each year. In my spare time I work on my videos (both underwater and abovewater), and rent small planes to fly Diana someplace interesting. We do try to take “the road less traveled” while we can, and to make the most out of life, since its much too short. 

Some of our memorable trips (clips of which which you can see on the links below): shark and Manta Ray diving in Fiji, being up close and personal with Silverback mountain Gorilla’s in Rwanda, touring the Kingdom of Bhutan, making friends with the Huli Wigman tribe in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, sailing the Cyclades Islands of Greece on a 40 ft bareboat, etc…etc.

Most of our travel videos/pictures are on our web site, at : www.solymossy.com or on my YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/2FlynDive.

If you wish to contact me, please do so at: robert@solymossy.com

Best wishes to all!"

Stephanie Beatty Williams

Stephanie (Beatty) Williams

After graduating from La Jolla High, I went to UC Berkeley for both a BA and a Masters in Social Work. The social work degree gave me an opportunity to work in a variety of settings over the years, from child welfare to medical social work to mental health. For the past 25 years, I have run a successful mental health practice and am in the process of retiring and closing down the office by the end of this year. If anyone remembers me, I was "horse crazy" as a teen, and I still am. My husband and I have several Morgan horses, live on 8 acres near the famous Tevis/Western States 100 mile trail from Tahoe to Auburn, and we have raised and trained our little herd ourselves.

Gail Patterson

Gail Patterson

In the fall of 1964, I went to the University of Colorado and spent two wonderful years in Boulder.  Returned to CA in 1966 and graduated from San Diego state with a BA degree in English.  I met Walter Frick at SDSU, we married in November 1968.  He enlisted in the Air Force.  We were sent to Texas for a year. I earned a teaching credential from UT-Austin. He was then stationed in Mt. Home, Idaho for three years. The first two of our three children were born there.  We moved to Corvallis, OR in 1973 for graduate school, he in atmospheric sciences, I in accounting.  In 1976 we moved to the Bay area for Walter’s job in SF.  I worked at a CPA firm in Fremont.  We moved back to Corvallis in 1977.  He worked for the EPA.  Our third child was born that year.   In the early 1980’s I finished my accounting coursework and passed the CPA exam.  Worked for two years at CPA firms and then began a 31 year career working in the Oregon University System as a payroll manager, then accounting/endowment/bond manager, and finally a budget manager for the College of Ag, Agricultural Experiment Station.   I retired in the fall of 2012.   Walter and I divorced in 1993.

I’ve traveled to all 50 states and some of the world—much of Europe, all the Baltic States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Italy.  A few were group trips but many were done traveling with my spouse or with friends on our own.   I’ve taken French, German, Spanish and a little Italian in preparation for the trips.

I wanted to hike and do other activities post-divorce, so started hiking, backpacking, cross country skiing and singles groups at the local Unitarian Fellowship. Seven of us started the first annual UU women’s retreat in 1992.  That was a wonderful 5 year period before I took my final 15 year intense, worked too many hours, job at OSU.   I done white water rafting in Oregon, Montana, Canada and Costa Rica since the 1970’s, though not in the last 10 years.

After retiring in late 2012 I spent a lot of time traveling in Oregon, Montana and to southern CA, visiting friends and relatives, for a year until my back went haywire again in late 2013.   First back surgery was in 2006 was done incorrectly.  Hoping to get the issues fixed this month (November 2014) with a second surgery. 

My children are now 43, 41 and 36.   The two oldest have not married and have no kids.  The eldest, Erika, went to Stanford for undergrad and then Harvard Law School.  She practiced law for 15 years, several years in DC working for a judge, a few years working for a private firm and almost 10 years as assistant US Attorney for SF.   Decided she didn’t like being a prosecutor and started taking courses in non-violent communication, and various other belief systems.   She quit her SF job three years ago and started her own business, as a life coach, some in-person, but much of it via Skype.   She’s doing well.  She splits her time between her apartment in SF and her house near Tahoe.  We all spend time in the Tahoe area with her.   My older son, Karl, has BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from OSU.  He worked for Cal Trans in Sacramento and then ODOT in Salem for 10 years, decided he didn’t like office politics and the way government was running in both cases.  He has been self-employed, doing construction, gardening, yard maintenance, etc. for 6 years.  He currently lives in Corvallis.  My younger son, David, graduated from OSU in Biology and Chemistry.  He was a wine maker in Napa Valley for 6 years and then in Paso Robles for 6 years.  He married a woman he’d known in high school and college (but hadn’t dated before) in 2010.   They have a 3 year old son, Everett, and a 9 month old daughter, Juliana.  They moved back to Portland in late 2012.   Dave lost his last wine maker position just as his wife was returning to work as a pediatrician when their oldest was 3 months old.  Dave has been a full time caregiver for the kids for 3 years.    David also has a set of twin boys, Max and Isaak, who live with their mother and other grandmother near Escondido, CA.  They are almost 9 years old.  I visit them in So Cal about 4 times a year.   They visited us in Oregon last summer.   We had a great time playing in creeks and rivers and at playgrounds.

Gail Patterson

gail.patterson@comcast.net